Part 18

“Diana, are you mad?” Lionel was whispering fiercely. “’Tis life or death!… If you are seen to struggle now, you, whom this rabble believes I come to rescue from the papists, you are lost, even as the others!”

Through Lionel’s words she was aware of the wild-beast roar, execrating:—

“Kill the papists! Burn them! Fire the convent—fire for fire!”

She was aware also of the invisible bars broken down, of the rush. And next, even to her bewildered senses, there came the feeling of a change, a halt.

It was like a flood at full tide miraculously arrested. Shots followed each other in rapid succession outside; and other sounds now, a roll of drums, words of command, some cheers, began to mingle with those hideous recurrent yells. The throng that struggled to pour in through the broken door recoiled.

“The guards! the guards are on us!” was now the cry.

And with the curious unanimity of crowds general panic succeeded general fury. Above the torrential sound of feet on the pavement, a voice, clear yet panting, like the blast of a running trumpeter, rose ever nearer.

“Make way, in the King’s name!”

Then Diana heard the Abbess’s “_Deo gratias_”; heard Lionel curse as his grasp relaxed; heard him curse again as he leaped forward, brandishing the stump of his sword, and, in vain frenzy, striving to stop the fugitives.

Harry Rockhurst was the first of the rescuers to dash through the gaping door. The Lord Constable had in truth reached the gateway before him, but had stood aside to let his son pass. Bare-headed, his black curls flying, his face set with the sternness of fierce intent, Diana for one delirious instant took the son for the father—the father as she had first met him in pride of noble strength, when she had loved him, unbidden. And as he sprang toward her, crying out in accents of unmeasurable joy, “Diana—safe!” she cast herself into his arms.

Now, even as he held her, she knew who it was, knew that there was youth in his pressure, an unhampered ecstasy of leaping blood. But yet she clung to him the closer, past and present so inextricably mingled in her thought that all she felt, all she cared to know, was that now, here, her heart had come home at last!

The inner circle of their joy lasted but the moment of a radiant bubble. About them the turmoil still raged. There was one, within a few yards, white-haired, grappling with a furious blood-stained ruffian. Diana clutched her lover’s arm.

“Harry, Harry, save the old man!”

Harry turned, saw, and fired his pistol point-blank in the rioter’s face. In the same instant, with a horror that stifled the cry of warning in her throat, Diana saw Lionel, with livid countenance of fury, advancing upon the young man, his broken sword drawn back like a dagger for the thrust. But even as she found voice, all was over: one whose love had been swifter than hers had flung himself between the steel and its aim. Then all was a swirl of confusion. She saw Harry draw his sword from Lionel’s fallen body, fling it from him, and rush with a deep cry of anguish to the tall, white-headed man who yet stood erect, smiling, but with a face of terrible pallor.

She looked again; and, as if the blast of a mighty wind had torn the mists from her eyes, she knew him. The old man she had called him: it was Lord Rockhurst himself.

And now it became clear to her that he was wounded, and grievously. Though he still stood, he was supported on one side by his son; on the other by a grey-bearded yeoman who, seeing his leader struck, had worked his way to him with great strides, through the mob of soldiers and rioters struggling at the door.

“Sir,” he was saying, “this is the weight of a dead man.”

“Ah, no!” cried the son. “For God’s sake, look to the wound! O God!—the sword, to the very hilt!”

Rockhurst came back from his far-smiling contemplation to forbid the hand that would have plucked the broken sword from his side.

“Touch it not yet, Sergeant Bracy. When you draw it, you draw my life with it.”

“He’s sped, Master Harry,” whispered Bracy, and his face began to work.

* * * * *

Then Rockhurst failed in their arms and they gently laid him down on the flags, but a few paces away from Lionel Ratcliffe’s dead body. As in a dream, Diana came and knelt by his side. Madam Anastasia was praying under her voice the prayer for the dying: “… Remember not, O Lord, the offences of thy servant, and take not revenge of his sins.…”

“Oh, father,” sobbed Harry, “the best, the dearest! Oh, my honoured lord!”

The dying man, as with an effort, brought his far gaze to the two young faces bending in sorrow over him.

“It is well,” he said, “very well. Diana, lay your hand in his. I would fain place it there myself, but I cannot, I cannot.” His eye roamed as if seeking. Once again he smiled at Bracy’s distraught countenance.

“Old comrade,” he breathed, “pluck out the blade.”

* * * * *

The Lord Constable had given his last command.

Mr. F. MARION CRAWFORD’S NOVELS

THE SARACINESCA SERIES

_In the binding of the Uniform Edition, each, $1.50_

=Saracinesca=

“The work has two distinct merits, either of which would serve to make it great,—that of telling a perfect story in a perfect way, and of giving a graphic picture of Roman society in the last days of the Pope’s temporal power.… The story is exquisitely told.”—_Boston Traveler._

=Sant’ Ilario.= A Sequel to “Saracinesca”

“A singularly powerful and beautiful story.… It fulfils every requirement of artistic fiction. It brings out what is most impressive in human action, without owing any of its effectiveness to sensationalism or artifice. It is natural, fluent in evolution, accordant with experience, graphic in description, penetrating in analysis, and absorbing in interest.”—_New York Tribune._

=Don Orsino.= A Sequel to “Sant’ Ilario”

“Perhaps the cleverest novel of the year.… There is not a dull paragraph in the book, and the reader may be assured that once begun, the story of _Don Orsino_ will fascinate him until its close.”—_The Critic._

=Taquisara=

“To Mr. Crawford’s Roman novels belongs the supreme quality of uniting subtly drawn characters to a plot of uncommon interest.”—_Chicago Tribune._

=Corleone=

“Mr. Crawford is the novelist born … a natural story-teller, with wit, imagination, and insight added to a varied and profound knowledge of social life.”—_The Inter-Ocean_, Chicago.

=Casa Braccio.=

_In two volumes, $2.00._ Illustrated by A. Castaigne

Like _Taquisara_ and _Corleone_, it is closely related in plot to the fortunes of the Saracinesca family.

“Mr. Crawford’s books have life, pathos, and insight; he tells a dramatic story with many exquisite touches.”—_New York Sun._

NOVELS OF ROMAN SOCIAL LIFE

_In decorated cloth covers, each, $1.50_

=A Roman Singer=

“One of the earliest and best works of this famous novelist.… None but a genuine artist could have made so true a picture of human life, crossed by human passions and interwoven with human weakness. It is a perfect specimen of literary art.”—_The Newark Advertiser._

=Marzio’s Crucifix=

“We have repeatedly had occasion to say that Mr. Crawford possesses in an extraordinary degree the art of constructing a story. It is as if it could not have been written otherwise, so naturally does the story unfold itself, and so logical and consistent is the sequence of incident after incident. As a story, _Marzio’s Crucifix_ is perfectly constructed.”—_New York Commercial Advertiser._

=Heart of Rome.= A Tale of the Lost Water

“Mr. Crawford has written a story of absorbing interest, a story with a genuine thrill in it; he has drawn his characters with a sure and brilliant touch, and he has said many things surpassingly well.”—_New York Times Saturday Review._

=Cecilia.= A Story of Modern Rome

“That F. Marion Crawford is a master of mystery needs no new telling.… His latest novel, _Cecilia_, is as weird as anything he has done since the memorable _Mr. Isaacs_.… A strong, interesting, dramatic story, with the picturesque Roman setting beautifully handled as only a master’s touch could do it.”—_Philadelphia Evening Telegraph._

=Whosoever Shall Offend=

“It is a story sustained from beginning to end by an ever increasing dramatic quality.”—_New York Evening Post._

=Pietro Ghisleri=

“The imaginative richness, the marvellous ingenuity of plot, the power and subtlety of the portrayal of character, the charm of the romantic environment,—the entire atmosphere indeed,—rank this novel at once among the great creations.”—_The Boston Budget._

=To Leeward=

“The four characters with whose fortunes this novel deals, are, perhaps, the most brilliantly executed portraits in the whole of Mr. Crawford’s long picture gallery, while for subtle insight into the springs of human passion and for swift dramatic action none of the novels surpasses this one.”—_The News and Courier._

=A Lady of Rome=

Mr. Crawford has no equal as a writer of brilliant cosmopolitan fiction, in which the characters really belong to the chosen scene and the story interest is strong. His novels possess atmosphere in a high degree.

=Mr. Isaacs= (India)

Its scenes are laid in Simla, chiefly. This is the work which first placed its author among the most brilliant novelists of his day.

=Greifenstein= (The Black Forest)

“… Another notable contribution to the literature of the day. It possesses originality in its conception and is a work of unusual ability. Its interest is sustained to the close, and it is an advance even on the previous work of this talented author. Like all Mr. Crawford’s work, this novel is crisp, clear, and vigorous, and will be read with a great deal of interest.”—_New York Evening Telegram._

=Zoroaster= (Persia)

“It is a drama in the force of its situations and in the poetry and dignity of its language; but its men and women are not men and women of a play. By the naturalness of their conversation and behavior they seem to live and lay hold of our human sympathy more than the same characters on a stage could possibly do.”—_The New York Times._

=The Witch of Prague= (Bohemia)

_“A fantastic tale,” illustrated by W. J. Hennessy._

“The artistic skill with which this extraordinary story is constructed and carried out is admirable and delightful.… Mr. Crawford has scored a decided triumph, for the interest of the tale is sustained throughout.… A very remarkable, powerful, and interesting story.”—_New York Tribune._

=Paul Patoff= (Constantinople)

“Mr. Crawford has a marked talent for assimilating local color, not to make mention of a broader historical sense. Even though he may adopt, as it is the romancer’s right to do, the extreme romantic view of history, it is always a living and moving picture that he evolves for us, varied and stirring.”—_New York Evening Post._

=Marietta= (Venice)

“No living writer can surpass Mr. Crawford in the construction of a complicated plot and the skilful unravelling of the tangled skein.”—_Chicago Record-Herald._

“He has gone back to the field of his earlier triumphs, and has, perhaps, scored the greatest triumph of them all.”—_New York Herald._

_In the binding of the new Uniform Edition, each, $1.50_

=Via Crucis.= A Romance of the Second Crusade. Illustrated by Louis Loeb

“_Via Crucis.…_ A tale of former days, possessing an air of reality and an absorbing interest such as few writers since Scott have been able to accomplish when dealing with historical characters.”—_Boston Transcript._

=In the Palace of the King= (Spain)

“_In the Palace of the King_ is a masterpiece; there is a picturesqueness, a sincerity which will catch all readers in an agreeable storm of emotion, and even leave a hardened reviewer impressed and delighted.”—_Literature, London._

=With the Immortals=

“The strange central idea of the story could have occurred only to a writer whose mind was very sensitive to the current of modern thought and progress, while its execution, the setting it forth in proper literary clothing, could be successfully attempted only by one whose active literary ability should be fully equalled by his power of assimilative knowledge both literary and scientific, and no less by his courage and capacity for hard work. The book will be found to have a fascination entirely new for the habitual reader of novels. Indeed, Mr. Crawford has succeeded in taking his readers quite above the ordinary plane of novel interest.”—_Boston Advertiser._

=Children of the King= (Calabria)

“One of the most artistic and exquisitely finished pieces of work that Crawford has produced. The picturesque setting, Calabria and its surroundings, the beautiful Sorrento and the Gulf of Salerno, with the bewitching accessories that climate, sea, and sky afford, give Mr. Crawford rich opportunities to show his rare descriptive powers. As a whole the book is strong and beautiful through its simplicity, and ranks among the choicest of the author’s many fine productions.”—_Public Opinion._

=A Cigarette Maker’s Romance= (Munich) and =Khaled=, a Tale of Arabia

“Two gems of subtle analysis of human passion and motive.”—_Times._

“The interest is unflagging throughout. Never has Mr. Crawford done more brilliant realistic work than here. But his realism is only the case and cover for those intense feelings which, placed under no matter what humble conditions, produce the most dramatic and the most tragic situations.… This is a secret of genius, to take the most coarse and common material, the meanest surroundings, the most sordid material prospects, and out of the vehement passions which sometimes dominate all human beings to build up with these poor elements, scenes and passages the dramatic and emotional power of which at once enforce attention and awaken the profoundest interest.”—_New York Tribune._

=Fair Margaret.= A Portrait

“An exhilarating romance … alluring in its naturalness and grace.”—_Boston Herald._

WITH SCENES LAID IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA

_In the binding of the Uniform Edition_

=A Tale of a Lonely Parish=

“It is a pleasure to have anything so perfect of its kind as this brief and vivid story.… It is doubly a success, being full of human sympathy, as well as thoroughly artistic in its nice balancing of the unusual with the commonplace, the clever juxtaposition of innocence and guilt, comedy and tragedy, simplicity and intrigue.”—_Critic._

=Dr. Claudius.= A True Story

The scene changes from Heidelberg to New York, and much of the story develops during the ocean voyage.

“There is a satisfying quality in Mr. Crawford’s strong, vital, forceful stories.”—_Boston Herald._

=An American Politician.= The scenes are laid in Boston

“It need scarcely be said that the story is skilfully and picturesquely written, portraying sharply individual characters in well-defined surroundings.”—_New York Commercial Advertiser._

=The Three Fates=

“Mr. Crawford has manifestly brought his best qualities as a student of human nature and his finest resources as a master of an original and picturesque style to bear upon this story. Taken for all in all, it is one of the most pleasing of all his productions in fiction, and it affords a view of certain phases of American, or perhaps we should say of New York, life that have not hitherto been treated with anything like the same adequacy and felicity.”—_Boston Beacon._

=Marion Darche=

“Full enough of incident to have furnished material for three or four stories.… A most interesting and engrossing book. Every page unfolds new possibilities, and the incidents multiply rapidly.”—_Detroit Free Press._

“We are disposed to rank _Marion Darche_ as the best of Mr. Crawford’s American stories.”—_The Literary World._

=Katharine Lauderdale=

=The Ralstons.= A Sequel to “Katharine Lauderdale”

“Mr. Crawford at his best is a great novelist, and in _Katharine Lauderdale_ we have him at his best.”—_Boston Daily Advertiser._

“A most admirable novel, excellent in style, flashing with humor, and full of the ripest and wisest reflections upon men and women.”—_The Westminster Gazette._

“It is the first time, we think, in American fiction that any such breadth of view has shown itself in the study of our social framework.”—_Life._

Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL’S NOVELS

_Each, cloth, gilt tops and titles, $1.50_

=The Celebrity.= An Episode

“No such piece of inimitable comedy in a literary way has appeared for years.… It is the purest, keenest fun.”—_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

=Richard Carvel= Illustrated

“… In breadth of canvas, massing of dramatic effect, depth of feeling, and rare wholesomeness of spirit, it has seldom, if ever, been surpassed by an American romance.”—_Chicago Tribune._

=The Crossing= Illustrated

“_The Crossing_ is a thoroughly interesting book, packed with exciting adventure and sentimental incident, yet faithful to historical fact both in detail and in spirit.”—_The Dial._

=The Crisis= Illustrated

“It is a charming love story, and never loses its interest.… The intense political bitterness, the intense patriotism of both parties, are shown understandingly.”—_Evening Telegraph_, Philadelphia.

=Coniston= Illustrated

“_Coniston_ has a lighter, gayer spirit, and a deeper, tenderer touch than Mr. Churchill has ever achieved before.… It is one of the truest and finest transcripts of modern American life thus far achieved in our fiction.”—_Chicago Record-Herald._

Mr. JAMES LANE ALLEN’S NOVELS

_Each, cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

=The Choir Invisible=

_This can also be had in a special edition illustrated by Orson Lowell, $2.50_

“One reads the story for the story’s sake, and then re-reads the book out of pure delight in its beauty. The story is American to the very core.… Mr. Allen stands to-day in the front rank of American novelists. _The Choir Invisible_ will solidify a reputation already established and bring into clear light his rare gifts as an artist. For this latest story is as genuine a work of art as has come from an American hand.”—HAMILTON MABIE in _The Outlook_.

=The Reign of Law.= A Tale of the Kentucky Hempfields

“Mr. Allen has a style as original and almost as perfectly finished as Hawthorne’s, and he has also Hawthorne’s fondness for spiritual suggestion that makes all his stories rich in the qualities that are lacking in so many novels of the period.… If read in the right way, it cannot fail to add to one’s spiritual possessions.”—_San Francisco Chronicle._

=Summer in Arcady.= A Tale of Nature

“This story by James Lane Allen is one of the gems of the season. It is artistic in its setting, realistic and true to nature and life in its descriptions, dramatic, pathetic, tragic, in its incidents; indeed, a veritable masterpiece that must become classic. It is difficult to give an outline of the story; it is one of the stories which do not outline; it must be read.”—_Boston Daily Advertiser._

=The Mettle of the Pasture=

“It may be that _The Mettle of the Pasture_ will live and become a part of our literature; it certainly will live far beyond the allotted term of present-day fiction. Our principal concern is that it is a notable novel, that it ranks high in the range of American and English fiction, and that it is worth the reading, the re-reading, and the continuous appreciation of those who care for modern literature at its best.”—By E. F. E. in the _Boston Transcript_.

_Shorter Stories. Each, $1.50_

=The Blue Grass Region of Kentucky= =Flute and Violin, and Other Kentucky Tales=

_Each, illustrated, $1.00_

=A Kentucky Cardinal= =Aftermath.= A Sequel to “A Kentucky Cardinal”

Mr. OWEN WISTER’S NOVELS

_Each, in decorated cloth cover, $1.50_

=The Virginian=

“The vanished West is made to live again by Owen Wister in a manner which makes his book easily the best that deals with the cowboy and the cattle country.… It is picturesque, racy, and above all it is original.”—_The Philadelphia Press._

=Lady Baltimore=

“After cowboy stories innumerable, _The Virginian_ came as the last and definite word on that romantic subject in our fiction. _Lady Baltimore_ will serve in much the same way as the most subtly drawn picture of the old-world dignity of the vanished South.”—_The New York Evening Mail._

Mr. EDEN PHILPOTTS’S NOVELS

_Each, in decorated cloth, $1.50_

=The American Prisoner= Illustrated

“Intensely readable … perfectly admirable in its elemental humor and racy turns of speech.”—_The Spectator_, London.

=The Secret Woman=

“There cannot be two opinions as to the interest and the power of _The Secret Woman_. It is not only its author’s masterpiece, but it is far in advance of anything he has yet written—and that is to give it higher praise than almost any other comparison with contemporary fiction could afford.”—_Times Saturday Review._

=Knock at a Venture=

Sketches of the rustic life of Devon, rich in racy, quaint, and humorous touches.

=The Portreeve=

Mr. ROBERT HERRICK’S NOVELS

_Cloth, extra, gilt tops, each, $1.50_

=The Gospel of Freedom=

“A novel that may truly be called the greatest study of social life, in a broad and very much up-to-date sense, that has ever been contributed to American fiction.”—_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

=The Web of Life=

“It is strong in that it faithfully depicts many phases of American life, and uses them to strengthen a web of fiction, which is most artistically wrought out.”—_Buffalo Express._

=The Real World=

“The title of the book has a subtle intention. It indicates, and is true to the verities in doing so, the strange dreamlike quality of life to the man who has not yet fought his own battles, or come into conscious possession of his will—only such battles bite into the consciousness.”—_Chicago Tribune._

=The Common Lot=

“It grips the reader tremendously.… It is the drama of a human soul the reader watches … the finest study of human motive that has appeared for many a day.”—_The World To-day._

=The Memoirs of an American Citizen.= Illustrated with about fifty drawings by F. B. Masters

“Mr. Herrick’s book is a book among many, and he comes nearer to reflecting a certain kind of recognizable, contemporaneous American spirit than anybody has yet done.”—_New York Times._

“Intensely absorbing as a story, it is also a crisp, vigorous document of startling significance. More than any other writer to-day he is giving us _the_ American novel.”—_New York Globe._

Mr. JACK LONDON’S NOVELS, etc.

_Each, in decorated cloth binding, $1.50_

=The Call of the Wild= Illustrated in colors

“A big story in sober English, and with thorough art in the construction; a wonderfully perfect bit of work; a book that will be heard of long. The dog’s adventures are as exciting as any man’s exploits could be, and Mr. London’s workmanship is wholly satisfying.”—_The New York Sun._

=The Sea-Wolf= Illustrated in colors

“Jack London’s _The Sea-Wolf_ is marvellously truthful.… Reading it through at a sitting, we have found it poignantly interesting; … a superb piece of craftsmanship.”—_The New York Tribune._

=White Fang= Illustrated in colors

“A thrilling story of adventure … stirring indeed … and it touches a chord of tenderness that is all too rare in Mr. London’s work.”—_Record-Herald_, Chicago.

=Before Adam= Illustrated in colors

“The story moves with a wonderful sequence of interesting and wholly credible events. The marvel of it all is not in the story itself, but in the audacity of the man who undertook such a task as the writing of it.… From an artistic standpoint the book is an undoubted success. And it is no less a success from the standpoint of the reader who seeks to be entertained.”—_The Plain Dealer_, Cleveland.

_Shorter Stories_

=Children of the Frost= =Faith of Men= =Tales of the Fish Patrol= =The Game= =Moon Face= =Love of Life=

Mr. WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS’S NOVELS

_Each, in decorated cloth cover, $1.50_

=A Friend of Cæsar=